Episode 508: Emails Wicked This Way Come
Date August 6, 2014 Summary Ben and Sam answer listener emails about timing trades, breaking news, outlawing headhunting, prospect debuts, and more. Intro Del Shannon, "The Answer to Everything" Banter * Number of position players pitching in one season reaches new high with Adam Dunn's appearance. 16 different position players pitched in 2014 to date * Nick Markakis is a potential MVP vote recipient on a good Orioles team. Sam hopes it does not come to pass and theorizes on other Orioles who could pull the vote (Delmon Young?) Email Questions * John says: "Hello Ben and Sam (alphabetical order; I like you both equally) my question is fairly simple and straight forward. Hypothetically, if the As and Boston Red Sox agreed to the Lester-Cespedes deal but chose not to announce it until 3:59 PM EST (that's a minute before the trading deadline), would the Tigers still have acquired David Price? Didn't the A's cost themselves a potential advantage by announcing the deal so early in the morning? Seems to me doing so gave their opponent ample time to make their counter-punch." * Miles asks: "Javier Baez plays his first game tonight. How well do you remember the first big-time prospect from your favorite childhood team when he first came up? It's cool for me to think that there is a generation of Cubs fans that may someday say to their kids, 'I remember when Javier Baez played his first game.'" * Chris wonders: "How come when big trades/free agency news is being broken, it often comes in stages? For example, it was reported that Jon Lester was being traded. Then it was reported that he was being traded to a team on the west coast. Then we found out it was to the As. Then we found out Jonny Gomes was going as well, and Cespedes was coming back. And finally we learned that there was a competitive balance pick going to Boston and cash going to Oakland. I just can't figure out how or why a source would be willing to tell a reporter some information regarding the trade (IE: Lester is being traded to a team on the west coast), but not that he is being traded to Oakland. Am I missing something here?" * Matt in Philly wants to know: "Why is placing a player on waivers, and of course teams making claims on the same waived players, not publicly recorded? I cannot think of a valid reason not to have a page on MLB.com listing all waiver moves. I realize that at first fans will overreact to some of the moves due to a lack of understanding how waivers work. But once everyone watched for a season and realized that almost everyone from McCutchen to Sale was placed on waivers at some point, everything would calm down. Then imagine the hot takes we could have, with everyone discussing who was placed on waivers, cleared waivers, why oh why didn't team x make a claim, what team y could offer in a potential trade on a claimed player, etc. I'm sure GMs would loathe the change, because they currently get to make all these moves privately, and the majority of the time the waiver placement amounts to nothing. But who cares if GM's lives are a little harder? It would be great fun to see players placed on waivers (take for example Marlon Byrd or Alex Rios this year) and debate what team should make a claim and what each team could offer in return for the claimed player. It will never happen, but it still would be fun." * Josh asks: "I happened to tune in to the Marlins feed tonight against the Reds solely to see if Cueto could get a win for my fantasy team, and luckily caught an epic rant in the eighth by the Marlins broadcast team. An inning-ending out at home was overturned because the replay umps in New York said the Marlins catcher blocked the plate. That tied the score at 1-1 and the Reds scored two more in the inning. The Marlins broadcast hilariously went on and on about the horrible call, saying that it single-handedly will change the game of baseball as we know it. My question: is there a single umpire's call or a single play in a game that could alter baseball forever?" John followed up: "I've seen some articles mentioning that the Diamondbacks' hitting/injuring of Andrew McCutchen could change baseball forever in terms of an official written rule to outlaw 'beanball justice.' Would that be the most significant change to how baseball is played that a single play could make?" Play Index Sam's Play Index this episode covered Major League debut batting lines. Javier Baez's first game's batting line was searched for in the Play Index, with multiple historical possibilities on the table until his debut game concluded in the twelfth inning. Baez would have been the 92nd player in Major League history to have an 0-4 without reaching base, with two strikeouts, following the 91st, his teammate Arismendy Alcantara. This was his line going into the bottom of the ninth inning on August 5th, 2014 but the game went into extra innings. On his fifth trip to the plate, in the tenth inning, he struck out to go 0-5. This would have been the seventh such debut line in history and the most recent since Reggie Taylor in 2000. Orlando Hernandez was the fifth such line, prior to Taylor. Randy Velarde held the previous such line. Leon Roberts was previous to Velarde, Dick Tomanek followed Roberts, and Jim Busby was the first. Sam wonders if it would be sufficient to have Velarde's career and its 24.9 WAR and .760 OPS, if you were Baez or a fan of the Cubs. Ben says he would not take that guarantee for Baez if he were pulling for the Cubs or Baez personally; his potential is seen to be so much greater. Sam thinks he is a prime bust candidate, citing the possibility for Baez to swing so hard "his guts fall out," and says he would take the Velarde career for Baez. In the top of the twelfth inning, in Colorado, Baez hit his first major league home run to give the Cubs a 6-5 lead, which they would hold. This resulted in a 1-6 line for Baez, with three strikeouts, no walks, and one home run. This was the first such debut line in Major League history. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 508: Emails Wicked This Way Come Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes